Last Saturday I happened to attend a talk and book launch ceremony of top Pakistani businessman, Sadr-ud-Din Hashwani who is the chairman of Hashoo group.
The event was being organized by "The Indus Entrepreneur" shortly known as TIE Islamabad chapter.
More than 600 people were present at the event including children from Beaconhouse school and "Hashoo Scholars" whose education is funded by Hashoo Foundation.
The English version of the book was launched earlier and it went quite unnoticed. But the Urdu version has gained a lot of popularity and kicked quite a controversy within days after its launch.
The main reason is that the book has openly criticized several Pakistani politicians including President Asif Ali Zardari who served as President of Pakistan between 2008 to 2013.
But the question here is whether this book is written with the sole purpose of defaming Mr. Zardari or it contains something other than accusations? Honestly speaking, every reader will extract their own meanings from the book and maybe something I see in one way will be considered differently by someone else.
Who was Sadr-ud-din Hashwani?
Hashwani was youngest son in a large Ismaile family(10 siblings), his father and grandfather were traders who dealt with "Rally Brothers" a British company. Hashwani joined his brother in law's business as a trainee when he failed in college.
Hashwani was deeply grieved by his failure in college and he put all his energies in the business. It is a notable fact that he played cricket as a fast bowler from Agha Khan gymkhana before becoming a businessman.
Truth Prevails Video from
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Vimeo.
The transport business grew quickly due to the young man's relentless efforts, he used to visit Quetta and Qallat ever 15 days to collect payments. The cold nights of Quetta were very difficult to endure but he did it happily. He even had to sleep in the open once when a truck broke on the way to Qallat, when he woke up in the morning his face was badly swollen due to insect bytes.
They later on started managing sea ship loading/unloading business as well. Almost all of this was because of Hashwani's relentless efforts. His brother in law would come to office at 10:00 AM, bother Hashwani with silly question for while, take some rest, and go on to club at 1:00 PM for lunch.
Later on his brother in law accused him of stealing 5000 rupees from the office, Hashwani decided to keep quite because if things escalated wedding of his older sister "Malak Sultan" would get in trouble. In Pakistan people usually don't differentiate between personal problems and professional problems.
Selling steel stripes to Cotton King
After being betrayed by a family member Hashwani started working as a salesman. He would sale steel stripes which are used to tie up cotton bails, he would go to various factories and supply the stripes. He was a single man, his father was alive and doing good business along with his younger brother Akbar. Which means Hashwani accumulated some money in a few years and started into cotton business.
By 1973 he was known as the "Cotton King" of Pakistan, since he exported Pakistani cotton world over.
Nationalization 1973
In 1973 the Government of Pakistan which was then led by charismatic Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto took control of many large Pakistani businesses. Back then it was said that business in Pakistan is controlled by 22 families.
Hashwani's cotton business was also usurped. He had no choice but to start something new.
That is when he ventured into property business and bought/sold properties for a short period of time.
Holiday Inn Karachi that lead to "THE Hashwani"
Hashwani had bought a piece of land in Karachi some time ago, he decided to create a five star hotel on that land. When he asked for a permit from the government, they placed a condition which seemed difficult at that time but turned out to be good for both Pakistan and Hashoo group.
Bhutto government agreed wanted Hashwani to build a 5 star hotel in Islamabad since a five star was badly needed in then new born Pakistani capital.
Government allotted Hashwani a piece of land for this purpose, he then bought builders and architects from Singapore and Hong Kong to build the hotels.
The piece of land in Islamabad later become a serious problem for Hashwani in General Zia's marshal law since General believe Hashwani must have been an accomplice of Bhutto, and this land must have been a reward of some scrupulous favor.
For full details I recommend you to buy the book and read it. You may order the book by sending an e-mail here:
Hashwanimemoir@gmail.com
Is Hashwani a proud mad old man?
Not at all, in fact I was astonished by his down to earth attitude. He's got tremendous expectations from young Pakistanis.
He says Dubai has got only 50 kilometers of coastline and they've built a business wonder on that. Pakistan on the other hand has got 900 kilometers of coastline, and the largest deep sea port Gawadar.
He says Gawadar is the future, he even built a 5 star PC hotel in Gawadar which is still in loss since not much is happening in Gawadar.
What is the controversy about?
- Hashwani has clearly criticized Z.A. Bhutto's nationalization policy in the book. We can understand his anger since he'd lost a running business, for which he was known as "The Cotton King of Pakistan."
- He's told the story of how Zia-ul-Haq thought he is an aide of Z.A. Bhutto, later on Hashwani refused to buy an imported Mercedes Benz from Junejo who was Pakistani PM back in the day. Junejo made Zia believe that Hashwani was supplying funds to Benazir Bhutto who had recently returned to the country, this caused a lot of trouble for Hashwani.
- There were some problems between Hashwani and Nawaz Sharif as well.
- Most controversial are Hashwani's statements about Asif Ali Zardar, son of a Sindhi landlord who later became Benazir Bhutto's husband, chairman of PPP after Bhtto was killed in Rawalpindi and finally President of Pakistan.
Hashwani vs Zardari
In 1983, Marriott Karachi was run by Hashwani and it had a vibrant disco club. According to the book, a young Asif Zardari had a fight with someone from Baloch Zahri tribe in the disco. Hashwani told the guards to through both parties out. Next day Hakim A. Zardar, father of Asif A. Zardari called Hashwani and showed his anger.
Hashwani says Mr. Zardari created problems for him and his business when his wife became first female prime minister of Pakistan. The animosity kept going on and on.
Marriott Bombing
In his book, Hashwani says that various business factions in Pakistan are using terrorism as a veil and destroying their opponents under the guise of terrorist attacks. He didn't write that the Marriott bombing was a similar act but the message is clear if we read between the lines. Hashwani specifically mentioned the blue flames on first floor of Marriott, he says the bomb was detonated on the first floor outside main door but how come there were blue flames dancing on first floor. He writes maybe it was a chemical fire started intentionally.
Running for his life, Dubai 2008 - 2013
Hashwani stayed in Dubai between 2008 and 2013, he says "someone" was trying to kill him and wanted him to hand over most of his assets if he wanted to live. Hashwani secretly fled to Dubai along with his family and returned to Pakistan in 2013, when new Shareef government was in place in Pakistan.
Purprose of this article
The author is not taking sides at all, the piece is written as a neutral observer.
I hope this article serves as an informative piece and it could help clear most of the clutter created around the controversy at present. I believe not much is going to happen if people simply forget the book and move on.
Yours truly along with the free copy of the book that was awarded to all participants.
Really nice 5 star lunch was offered to all the participants afterwards
TIE Islamabad is considered world's most progressive TIE chapter.
The hall was packed full by the end, this picture was taken before Hashwani's arrival. By the end, people were standing in the back of hall and on the sides as well.
Urdu article about the Sadar-ud-Din Hashwani book "Truth Always Prevails" can be found on link given below:
http://kehna.blogspot.com/2014/11/blog-post.html
